Embodiments of the present invention relate to an integrated circuit package.
Advances in integrated circuit technology have resulted in integrated circuit devices having increased circuit density, increased clocking frequencies, and increased power consumption. As a result, advanced integrated circuit devices such as microprocessors generate substantial amounts of heat. To maintain the performance and prevent degradation of integrated circuit devices that generate a lot of heat, a package housing an integrated circuit typically is coupled to a heat sink to transfer and dissipate heat away from the integrated circuit device.
Known heat sink methods are generally passive. Such passive methods rely on a heat sink to spread and dissipate the heat from an integrated circuit device and air to convect the heat from the heat sink. Known heat sinks are typically a cast heat sink and part of a two-piece heat transfer system including a package cover and a heat sink bolted to a cast cooling plate of the package cover. Cast heat sinks and cover plates (e.g., cast from copper, aluminum, etc.) can have high heat spreading resistances.
A known two-piece system for spreading heat generated by an integrated circuit device includes a heat sink bolted to a package cover including a heat pipe. The heat pipe of the cover can provide enhanced heat spreading across the cover as compared to a cover including a cast cover plate. Such a bolted, two-piece system, however, includes a thermal interface between the cover and heat sink. That thermal interface can create the largest thermal resistance in the bolted, two-piece system. In view of the foregoing, it can be appreciated that a substantial need exists for a method and apparatus which can more effectively transfer and dissipate heat from an integrated circuit device.
Embodiments of the present invention can include a heatpipesink that dissipates heat and includes a top wall including a plurality of hollow fins, a bottom wall, and a plurality of side walls. The top wall including the plurality of hollow fins, the bottom wall, and the plurality of side walls can define an inner cavity. The inner cavity may include a plurality of condenser regions, each one of the plurality of condenser regions can be located within one of the plurality of hollow fins. The inner cavity also can include an evaporator region adjacent said bottom wall.